Illinois State tennis coaches Chris Hoover and Greg Kennett have teamed together with B&J Sales and the Evergreen Racquet Club to bring tennis legend Nick Bollettieri to the Bloomington-Normal community on Friday, January 17 for a day of clinics and motivational speaking.
As one of the most celebrated names in the history of coaching, Bollettieri has either worked with on a personal basis or trained 48 ATP Tour players, including Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Pete Sampras. He has also worked with Martina Hingis, Monica Seles and Serena and Venus Williams for a total of 38 players with the Womens Tennis Association.
Bollettieri will begin his day in Bloomington-Normal with an adult workshop at the Evergreen Racquet Club from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. The workshop is open for viewing to the public free of charge and Bollettieri will address the audience at 11:30 a.m. Bollettieri will return to the club at 1:30 p.m., for a clinic with the Illinois State mens and womens tennis teams. The workout with the Redbirds is also open to the public and will end at 3 p.m.
From 3:30-6 p.m., Bollettieri will conduct a clinic with area junior high and high school players. Like the others, this clinic is also free and open to the public for viewing. As part of the clinic, he will hold a public forum at 5:30 p.m.
Greg and I are really excited about this event, Hoover said. Thanks to the continuous support from members within the community, were able to bring one of the most influencial individuals in the game of tennis to Bloomington-Normal. Obviously, Greg and I are both eager about having one of the legends of the business work with our teams. You can not help but think that the kids will be excited about the opportunity and that it will pave the way for a successful season in both of our programs.
In 1999, the United States Tennis Association (UTSA) named Bollettieri the United States Olympic Committee Coach of the Year. In the same year, he also received the International Tennis Hall of Fame Tennis Education Merit Award. In 1978, he founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy which is a full-time boarding school dedicated to preparing students for college with an environment that combines intense tennis training and specially designed academic curriculum.
A regular contributor to
Tennis,
TennisLife and
Florida Tennis magazines, Bollettieri was listed No. 16 of the 50 most influential people by
Tennis magazine and No. 19 of 25 people who have influenced tennis this past century by
The Sporting Life.
A resident of Bradenton, Fla., Bollettieris library includes 11 instructional videos, five books including
The Bollettieri Tennis Handbook and two audio CDs.
